Watch This Rare Footage of a Moose Shedding Its Antlers

While spending the day together in a cabin in Wyoming, the Eberhart family noticed an unexpected visitor: a bull moose, walking among the trees nearby. One of the family members grabbed a camera to record it, but he didn't expect to capture something even more startling—as he filmed, one of the moose’s antlers fell off. National Geographic obtained the home video and posted it online with annotations that narrate the family’s reaction and explain what they witnessed.

As the video above points out, moose antlers are deciduous—they are meant to be shed. This particular moose lost his antlers around Thanksgiving, while National Geographic writes that the process typically happens around January. Kim Eberhart, one of the family members present for the event, told National Geographic that after the antler fell, the moose “looked a little scared and stunned and was shaking his head and made a really mournful sound afterwards.” Still, moose biologist Bill Samuel reassured readers that the natural event was likely a relief for the animal (a moose's antlers can weigh as much as 40 pounds).

Watch the clip above and listen as the family expresses excitement and shock when the antler suddenly breaks and falls into the snow.

Banner image via YouTube

[h/t Nerdist]